On his show on Tuesday, talk-show host Jimmy Kimmel joked about Trump’s possible nicknames for Nikki Haley and looked completely perplexed by Trump’s decision to call Ron DeSantis “Meatball Ron.”
Nikki Haley, who has served as the first female governor of South Carolina and as the United Nations ambassador, is the first credible candidate to run against her former employer. Polls have indicated a lackluster response to her calls for party reform. Kimmel made fun of Haley’s desire for a “fresh direction,” saying it was like telling moths not to go toward the light. Also, he predicted that we would witness “snakes screwing each other.”
Trump, who trades in grievances, insults, and smears, and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, who has been avoiding an apparently unavoidable clash, look set to slug it out for the 2024 presidential nomination. DeSantis said he is more concerned with fighting Biden and helping people than he is with attacking fellow Republicans. How long he can wait to reply to Trump’s harsh insults that call for a robust counterattack is an open question.
Trump has referred to DeSantis as “Ron DeSanctimonious” and implied that, as a high school teacher, DeSantis engaged in inappropriate behavior toward female students. What will happen in the following 17 months is anyone’s guess, as this is only a taste of Trump’s all-out attack on DeSantis.
For the many conservative Republicans who are sick of Trump’s criminal investigations and desperate attempts to cling to power at any cost, DeSantis has been selling himself as a better option. He is the most well-known and widely-liked of Trump’s rivals and represents the most serious threat to Trump at this time.
It seems like the challenge is finding an appropriate response to Trump’s increased assaults and goading that doesn’t damage his reputation as more savvy, disciplined, and policy-focused than the ex-president himself. Trump, according to Jimmy Kimmel, will “eat that meatball like a snack.”
In the coming months, we will get to observe how the opposing parties in this fight respond to one another.